A court in Iran has imposed heavy prison sentences on a number of reformist intellectuals who attended a controversial conference on the country's future in Berlin last year.

Seven of the 17 defendants, including prominent campaigning journalist Akbar Ganji, were given prison sentences of between four and 10 years.

Gerhard Schroeder has reportedly postponed his trip to Tehran

The sentences have provoked a strong reaction in Germany, with reports that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has cancelled a trip to Iran.

The Iranian ambassador has also reportedly been summoned for a meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

The Berlin conference was organised by the Heinrich Boell foundation, which has strong links with the German Green Party.

Conservative backlash

Its disruption by exiled opposition activists was seen as a direct challenge to the Islamic constitution by hardliners in Tehran.

The conference was interrupted by anti-regime elements

The academics, translators and journalists were charged with undermining national security and making propaganda against the Islamic system.

Iranian conservatives were angered when state television showed footage of the protests, which included a man removing his clothes and a woman dancing with bare arms.

BBC Tehran correspondent Jim Muir says the sentences were harsher than expected and are bound to cause outrage among reformists and deep concern in diplomatic circles.

Appeal

Three of the accused received particularly severe punishment.

Prison sentences

Akbar Ganji: 10 years, plus five in internal exile

Saeed Sadr: 10 years

Khalil Rostamkhani: Nine years

Ali Afshari: Five years

Izzatollah Sahabi: Four-and-a-half years

Mehrangis Kar: Four years

Shahla Lahihi: Four years

Mr Ganji, who has made powerful enemies by his exposure of the killings of dissident writers and intellectuals by elements within the regime, was given 10 years' imprisonment and five years' internal exile.

A translator at the German embassy, Saeed Sadr, was also given a 10-year prison sentence, while another translator Khalil Rostamkhani was given nine years in jail.

A student leader, Ali Afshari, was given five years' imprisonment and an opposition leader, Izzatollah Sahabi, was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Feminists jailed

Two prominent and internationally known feminists, the lawyer Mehrangis Kar and the publisher Shahla Lahiji, received four year jail terms.

Others were given suspended jail sentences or fines, while six defendants were acquitted. The convicted have 20 days to lodge an appeal.

Another of the accused, liberal cleric Hassan Yousefi-Eshkevari, is being dealt with by a special religious court.

The case has been condemned as medieval by Iranian reformist groups and criticised by international human rights organisations.